1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to properly aligning and truing electrical devices. More particularly, the present invention relates to properly aligning and truing singly or ganged light switches and ganged duplex outlets at installation.
2. Background and Related Art
Since the introduction of standardized wiring boxes and wiring devices, electricians have been dependent on “eyeball truing”, trial-and-error alignment, and tools not designed for the purpose (generally torpedo levels) to get aesthetically correct installations of such devices. Eyeballing is a problem because at the end of almost every job, an architect comes around and does a substantial completion inspection. Even though a light switch or duplex outlet that is two or three degrees out of plumb usually works properly, no architect will accept one that is installed out of plumb. Electricians are frequently required to return to substantially completed projects to correct such minor deviations. Money and time are routinely lost to these types of problems.
Alignment by trial and error is a problem because as people and companies demand more and more of their electrical systems, ganged outlets, and, to an even greater extent, ganged switches are becoming more and more commonplace. The trend is clearly apparent that outlets and switches are being ganged in even larger groups. It is not at all uncommon in modern houses for switches to be ganged together in threes and fours. In commercial applications, it is not uncommon for switches ganged together in groups of five and occasionally even eight. Aligning ganged wiring devices so that cover plates, which require very precise alignment, always fit the first time without removing the cover places to adjust the wiring devices is very difficult. Currently, no specialized tool exists to aid in this process. It typically takes an electrician two or three attempts to achieve proper alignment for the cover plates on multiple wiring devices, wasting much time and effort.